Egyptian scholars talk revolution at Mills College

Dr. Nezar AlSayyad, the Chair of the Center of Middle East Studies at UC Berkeley, and Yasmeen Daifallah, UC Berkeley PhD candidate and Cairo University lecturer, discuss the future of Egypt at Mills College on Wednesday night.

Egypt changed forever after its recent popular uprising and the February 11 ouster of its president, Hosni Mubarak. With all eyes fixed on the North African nation, two Egyptian-born scholars drew a riveted audience at Mills College in Oakland on Wednesday night at an event dedicated to discussing the revolution’s finer points.

The panel featured Dr. Nezar AlSayyad, the Chair of the Center for Middle East Studies at UC Berkeley, and Yasmeen Daifallah, PhD candidate at UC Berkeley and lecturer at Cairo University. The two discussed issues and answered questions on topics like military control and gender roles in front of roughly 100 guests in Mills’ Student Union–a solid turnout for a school of just 1,000 undergraduates.

Their talk was sponsored by Mills’ Muslim Students Association. Association president Sahar Momand said she and her fellow association members had heard people discussing the revolution on campus, and wanted to provide some details. “We felt it was our duty to inform people about what is going on over there,” she said.